Plant milk may be considered by many Westerners as a substitute for dairy milk, but plant milks are commonly manufactured and used in places where cow's milk is unknown or unavailable in large quantities, or is unpopular because of cost.

1.
Rhubarb pie
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Rhubarb pie is a pie with a rhubarb filling. Popular in the UK, where rhubarb has been cultivated since the 1600s, besides diced rhubarb, it almost always contains a large amount of sugar to balance the intense tartness of the plant. A strawberry rhubarb pie, is a type of tart and sweet pie made with a strawberry, the pie is usually prepared with a bottom pie crust and a variety of styles of upper crust. In the United States, often an upper crust is used. This pie is a traditional dessert throughout the U. S, south including the Appalachian regions, and is part of New England cuisine. Rhubarb pies and desserts are popular in Canada too since the plant can survive in cold weather climates. To prepare rhubarb, trim off the ends and rinse well, cook the prepared rhubarb in a non-aluminum pan. Rhubarb is a vegetable that originated from Western China, Tibet, Mongolia, in the 1770s Benjamin Franklin sent Bartram further seeds from London. By 1829, rhubarb seeds were being sold in garden catalogs and it is a member of the buckwheat family. Only the stalks of the rhubarb are used, because Rhubarb leaves contain poisonous substances, including oxalic acid, frostbitten stalks are also avoided since they maintain toxicity. A common folk name for rhubarb is pie plant, Rhubarb is considered to be a harbinger for spring since harvesting can begin in April. List of strawberry dishes List of pies, tarts and flans Media related to Strawberry-rhubarb pies at Wikimedia Commons Strawberry rhubarb pie at Wikibook Cookbooks

2.
Ice cream
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Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It is usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream and it is typically sweetened with sugar or sugar substitutes. Typically, flavourings and colourings are added in addition to stabilizers, the mixture is stirred to incorporate air spaces and cooled below the freezing point of water to prevent detectable ice crystals from forming. The result is a smooth, semi-solid foam that is solid at low temperatures. It becomes more malleable as its temperature increases, the meaning of the phrase ice cream varies from one country to another. Phrases such as frozen custard, frozen yogurt, sorbet, gelato, products that do not meet the criteria to be called ice cream are labelled frozen dairy dessert instead. In other countries, such as Italy and Argentina, one word is used for all variants, analogues made from dairy alternatives, such as goats or sheeps milk, or milk substitutes, are available for those who are lactose intolerant, allergic to dairy protein, or vegan. Ice cream may be served in dishes, for eating with a spoon, or in cones, Ice cream may be served with other desserts, such as apple pie. Ice cream is used to other desserts, including ice cream floats, sundaes, milkshakes, ice cream cakes and even baked items. During the 5th century BC, ancient Greeks ate snow mixed with honey, the father of modern medicine, Hippocrates, encouraged his Ancient Greek patients to eat ice as it livens the life-juices and increases the well-being. In 400 BC, the Persians invented a special chilled food, made of water and vermicelli. The ice was mixed with saffron, fruits, and various other flavours, a frozen mixture of milk and rice was used in China around 200 BC. The Roman Emperor Nero had ice brought from the mountains and combined it with fruit toppings to create chilled delicacies, in the sixteenth century, the Mughal emperors used relays of horsemen to bring ice from the Hindu Kush to Delhi, where it was used in fruit sorbets. When Italian duchess Catherine de Medici married the Duke of Orléans in 1533, there is no historical evidence to support these legends, which first appeared during the 19th century. The first recipe in French for flavoured ices appears in 1674, recipes for sorbetti saw publication in the 1694 edition of Antonio Latinis Lo Scalco alla Moderna. Recipes for flavoured ices begin to appear in François Massialots Nouvelle Instruction pour les Confitures, les Liqueurs, et les Fruits, Massialots recipes result in a coarse, pebbly texture. Latini claims that the results of his recipes should have the consistency of sugar. Ice cream recipes first appeared in England in the 18th century, the recipe for ice cream was published in Mrs. Mary Ealess Receipts in London in 1718

3.
Nut (fruit)
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A nut is a fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, which is generally edible. In a general context, however, a variety of dried seeds are called nuts. The translation of nut in certain languages frequently requires paraphrases, as the word is ambiguous. Most seeds come from fruits that naturally free themselves from the shell, unlike nuts such as hazelnuts, chestnuts, and acorns, which have hard shell walls and originate from a compound ovary. The general and original usage of the term is less restrictive, and many nuts, such as almonds, pecans, pistachios, walnuts, common usage of the term often refers to any hard-walled, edible kernel as a nut. A nut in botany is a dry fruit with one seed in which the ovary wall becomes increasingly hard as it matures. Most nuts come from the pistils with inferior ovaries and all are indehiscent, true nuts are produced, for example, by some plant families of the order Fagales. Order Fagales Family Fagaceae Beech Chestnut Oak Stone-oak Tanoak Family Betulaceae Hazel, in botany, this term specifically refers to a pyrena or pyrene, which is a seed covered by a stony layer, such as the kernel of a drupe. Walnuts and hickories have fruits that are difficult to classify and they are considered to be nuts under some definitions, but are also referred to as drupaceous nuts. Tryma is a term for hickory fruits. In common use, a nut is, as the name implies. This most often comes up regarding allergies, where people are allergic specifically to peanuts. A nut in cuisine is a less restrictive category than a nut in botany. Any large, oily kernels found within a shell and used in food are called nuts. Nuts are an important source of nutrients for humans and wildlife. Because nuts generally have an oil content, they are a highly prized food. A large number of seeds are edible by humans and used in cooking, eaten raw, sprouted, or roasted as a food, or pressed for oil that is used in cookery. Nuts are also a significant source of nutrition for wildlife, Nuts used for food, whether true nut or not, are among the most common food allergens

4.
Cream
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Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-butterfat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, in the industrial production of cream, this process is accelerated by using centrifuges called separators. In many countries, cream is sold in several grades depending on the total butterfat content, Cream can be dried to a powder for shipment to distant markets. Cream has high levels of saturated fat, Cream skimmed from milk may be called sweet cream to distinguish it from whey cream skimmed from whey, a by-product of cheese-making. Whey cream has a fat content and tastes more salty, tangy. In many countries, cream is usually sold partially fermented, sour cream, crème fraîche, Cream has many culinary uses in sweet, bitter, salty and tangy dishes. This is also the origin of butters yellow color, Cream from goats milk, or from cows fed indoors on grain or grain-based pellets, is white. Cream is used as an ingredient in foods, including ice cream, many sauces, soups, stews, puddings, and some custard bases. Whipped cream is served as a topping on ice cream sundaes, milkshakes, egg nog, irish cream is an alcoholic liqueur which blends cream with whiskey, and often honey, wine, or coffee. Cream is also used in Indian curries such as masala dishes, Cream is often added to coffee in the US and Canada. Both single and double cream can be used in cooking, double cream or full-fat crème fraîche are often used when cream is added to a hot sauce, to prevent any problem with it separating or splitting. Double cream can be thinned with milk to make an approximation of single cream, the French word crème denotes not only dairy cream, but also other thick liquids such as sweet and savory custards, which are normally made with milk, not cream. Different grades of cream are distinguished by their fat content, whether they have been heat-treated, whipped, in many jurisdictions, there are regulations for each type. In the United States, cream is sold as, Most cream products sold in the United States at retail contain the minimum permissible fat content for their product type. Half and half almost always contains only 10. 5% butterfat, not all grades are defined by all jurisdictions, and the exact fat content ranges vary. Cream must contain no less than 350 g/kg of milk fat, in Canada, light cream is very low-fat cream, usually with 5% or 6% butterfat. Specific product characteristics are generally uniform throughout Canada, but names vary by geographic and linguistic area and by manufacturer. It can be confusing, coffee cream may be 10% or 18% and half-and-half may be 3%, 5%, 6% or 10%, all depending on location

5.
Plant
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Plants are mainly multicellular, predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. The term is generally limited to the green plants, which form an unranked clade Viridiplantae. This includes the plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns, clubmosses, hornworts, liverworts, mosses and the green algae. Green plants have cell walls containing cellulose and obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis by primary chloroplasts and their chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a and b, which gives them their green color. Some plants are parasitic and have lost the ability to produce amounts of chlorophyll or to photosynthesize. Plants are characterized by sexual reproduction and alternation of generations, although reproduction is also common. There are about 300–315 thousand species of plants, of which the great majority, green plants provide most of the worlds molecular oxygen and are the basis of most of Earths ecologies, especially on land. Plants that produce grains, fruits and vegetables form humankinds basic foodstuffs, Plants play many roles in culture. They are used as ornaments and, until recently and in variety, they have served as the source of most medicines. The scientific study of plants is known as botany, a branch of biology, Plants are one of the two groups into which all living things were traditionally divided, the other is animals. The division goes back at least as far as Aristotle, who distinguished between plants, which generally do not move, and animals, which often are mobile to catch their food. Much later, when Linnaeus created the basis of the system of scientific classification. Since then, it has become clear that the plant kingdom as originally defined included several unrelated groups, however, these organisms are still often considered plants, particularly in popular contexts. When the name Plantae or plant is applied to a group of organisms or taxon. The evolutionary history of plants is not yet settled. Those which have been called plants are in bold, the way in which the groups of green algae are combined and named varies considerably between authors. Algae comprise several different groups of organisms which produce energy through photosynthesis, most conspicuous among the algae are the seaweeds, multicellular algae that may roughly resemble land plants, but are classified among the brown, red and green algae. Each of these groups also includes various microscopic and single-celled organisms

6.
Soybean
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Glycine max, commonly known as soybean in North America or soya bean, is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean which has numerous uses. The plant, classed as a rather than a pulse by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Fat-free soybean meal is a significant and cheap source of protein for animal feeds, for example, soybean products, such as textured vegetable protein, are ingredients in many meat and dairy substitutes. The beans contain significant amounts of acid, dietary minerals. Soy vegetable oil, used in food and industrial applications, is product of processing the soybean crop. Traditional non-fermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk from which tofu and tofu skin are made, fermented soy foods include soy sauce, fermented bean paste, natto and tempeh. The main countries growing soybeans are the United States, Brazil, the English words soy and soya are ultimately derived from the Japanese pronunciation of shōyu, the Sino-Japanese word for soy sauce, by way of the Dutch adaptation of the same word, soja. The genus Glycine Willd. is divided two subgenera, Glycine and Soja. Includes the cultivated soybean, Glycine max Merr. and the wild soybean, Glycine soja is the wild ancestor of Glycine max, and grows wild in China, Japan, Korea and Russia. The subgenus Glycine consists of at least 25 wild perennial species, for example, Glycine canescens F. J. Herm. and G. tomentella Hayata, perennial soybean originated in Africa and is now a widespread pasture crop in the tropics. Like some other crops of long domestication, the relationship of the soybean to wild-growing species can no longer be traced with any degree of certainty. It is a variety with a very large number of cultivars. Like most plants, soybeans grow in distinct morphological stages as they develop from seeds into fully mature plants, the first stage of growth is germination, a process that first becomes apparent as a seeds radicle emerges. This is the first stage of growth and occurs within the first 48 hours under ideal growing conditions. The first photosynthetic structures, the cotyledons, develop from the hypocotyl and these cotyledons both act as leaves and as a source of nutrients for the immature plant, providing the seedling nutrition for its first 7 to 10 days. The first true leaves develop as a pair of single blades, subsequent to this first pair, mature nodes form compound leaves with three blades. Mature trifoliolate leaves, having three to four leaflets per leaf, are often between 6–15 cm long and 2–7 cm broad, under ideal conditions, stem growth continues, producing new nodes every four days. Before flowering, roots can grow 1.9 cm per day, if rhizobia are present, root nodulation begins by the time the third node appears

7.
Oat
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The oat, sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name. While oats are suitable for consumption as oatmeal and rolled oats. The wild ancestor of Avena sativa and the related minor crop. Genetic evidence shows the forms of A. sterilis grew in the Fertile Crescent of the Near East. Domesticated oats appear relatively late, and far from the Near East, oats, like rye, are usually considered a secondary crop, i. e. derived from a weed of the primary cereal domesticates wheat and barley. As these cereals spread westwards into cooler, wetter areas, this may have favored the oat weed component, oats are best grown in temperate regions. Oats are a plant, and can be planted either in autumn or in the spring. Oats have numerous uses in foods, most commonly, they are rolled or crushed into oatmeal, oatmeal is chiefly eaten as porridge, but may also be used in a variety of baked goods, such as oatcakes, oatmeal cookies and oat bread. Oats are also an ingredient in many cold cereals, in particular muesli, historical attitudes towards oats have varied. Oat bread was first manufactured in Britain, where the first oat bread factory was established in 1899, in Scotland, they were, and still are, held in high esteem, as a mainstay of the national diet. In Scotland, a dish was made by soaking the husks from oats for a week, so the fine, floury part of the meal remained as sediment to be strained off, boiled and eaten. Oats are also used there as a thickener in soups. Oats are also used as feed for horses when extra carbohydrates. The oat hull may be crushed for the horse to easily digest the grain. They may be given alone or as part of a food pellet. Cattle are also fed oats, either whole or ground into a coarse flour using a mill, burr mill. Winter oats may be grown as a groundcover and ploughed under in the spring as a green fertilizer. They also can be used for pasture, they can be grazed a while, then allowed to head out for grain production, Oat straw is prized by cattle and horse producers as bedding, due to its soft, relatively dust-free, and absorbent nature

8.
Rice
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Rice is the seed of the grass species Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima. As a cereal grain, it is the most widely consumed staple food for a part of the worlds human population. It is the agricultural commodity with the third-highest worldwide production, after sugarcane and maize, wild rice, from which the crop was developed, may have its native range in Australia. Chinese legends attribute the domestication of rice to Shennong, the emperor of China. Genetic evidence has shown that rice originates from a single domestication 8, previously, archaeological evidence had suggested that rice was domesticated in the Yangtze River valley region in China. From East Asia, rice was spread to Southeast and South Asia, Rice was introduced to Europe through Western Asia, and to the Americas through European colonization. There are many varieties of rice and culinary preferences tend to vary regionally, in some areas such as the Far East or Spain, there is a preference for softer and stickier varieties. Rice, a monocot, is grown as an annual plant, although in tropical areas it can survive as a perennial. The rice plant can grow to 1–1.8 m tall, occasionally more depending on the variety and it has long, slender leaves 50–100 cm long and 2–2.5 cm broad. The small wind-pollinated flowers are produced in a branched arching to pendulous inflorescence 30–50 cm long, the edible seed is a grain 5–12 mm long and 2–3 mm thick. Rice cultivation is well-suited to countries and regions with low costs and high rainfall, as it is labor-intensive to cultivate. However, rice can be grown practically anywhere, even on a hill or mountain area with the use of water-controlling terrace systems. Although its parent species are native to Asia and certain parts of Africa, centuries of trade, the traditional method for cultivating rice is flooding the fields while, or after, setting the young seedlings. The name wild rice is used for species of the genera Zizania and Porteresia. The Greek word is the source of all European words, the origin of the Greek word is unclear. It is sometimes held to be from the Tamil word அரிசி, however, Krishnamurti disagrees with the notion that Old Tamil arici is the source of the Greek term, and proposes that it was borrowed from descendants of Proto-Dravidian *wariñci instead. The varieties of rice are typically classified as long-, medium-, the grains of long-grain rice tend to remain intact after cooking, medium-grain rice becomes more sticky. Medium-grain rice is used for dishes, for risotto in Italy

9.
Digestion
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Digestion is the breakdown of large insoluble food molecules into small water-soluble food molecules so that they can be absorbed into the watery blood plasma. In certain organisms, these substances are absorbed through the small intestine into the blood stream. Digestion is a form of catabolism that is divided into two processes based on how food is broken down, mechanical and chemical digestion. The term mechanical digestion refers to the breakdown of large pieces of food into smaller pieces which can subsequently be accessed by digestive enzymes. In chemical digestion, enzymes break down food into the small molecules the body can use. In the human system, food enters the mouth and mechanical digestion of the food starts by the action of mastication, a form of mechanical digestion. After undergoing mastication and starch digestion, the food will be in the form of a small and it will then travel down the esophagus and into the stomach by the action of peristalsis. Gastric juice in the stomach starts protein digestion, gastric juice mainly contains hydrochloric acid and pepsin. As these two chemicals may damage the stomach wall, mucus is secreted by the stomach, providing a slimy layer that acts as a shield against the effects of the chemicals. At the same time protein digestion is occurring, mechanical mixing occurs by peristalsis and this allows the mass of food to further mix with the digestive enzymes. After some time, the resulting liquid is called chyme. When the chyme is fully digested, it is absorbed into the blood, 95% of absorption of nutrients occurs in the small intestine. Water and minerals are reabsorbed back into the blood in the colon where the pH is slightly acidic about 5.6 ~6.9, some vitamins, such as biotin and vitamin K produced by bacteria in the colon are also absorbed into the blood in the colon. Waste material is eliminated from the rectum during defecation, there is a fundamental distinction between internal and external digestion. External digestion developed earlier in history, and most fungi still rely on it. In this process, enzymes are secreted into the environment surrounding the organism, where they break down an organic material, some organisms, including nearly all spiders, simply secrete biotoxins and digestive chemicals into the extracellular environment prior to ingestion of the consequent soup. Bacteria use several systems to obtain nutrients from other organisms in the environments, in a channel transupport system, several proteins form a contiguous channel traversing the inner and outer membranes of the bacteria. It is a system, which consists of only three protein subunits, the ABC protein, membrane fusion protein, and outer membrane protein

10.
Kashrut
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Kashrut is a set of Jewish religious dietary laws. Food that may be consumed according to halakha is termed kosher /ˈkoʊʃər/ in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér, there are also laws regarding agricultural produce that might impact the suitability of food for consumption. Most of the laws of kashrut are derived from the Torahs Books of Leviticus. Their details and practical application, however, are set down in the oral law, while the Torah does not state the rationale for most kashrut laws, many reasons have been suggested, including philosophical, practical and hygienic. Over the past century, there have developed numerous rabbinical organizations that certify products, manufacturers, currently, about a sixth of American Jews or 0. 3% of the American population fully keep kosher, and many more abstain from some non-kosher foods, especially pork. Some Jewish scholars say that kashrut should be categorized as laws for which there is no particular explanation, in this line of thinking, the dietary laws were given as a demonstration of Gods authority, and man must obey without asking why. However, Maimonides believed that Jews were permitted to seek out reasons for the laws of the Torah, some theologians have said that the laws of kashrut are symbolic in character, Kosher animals represent virtues, while non-kosher animals represent vices. The 1st century BCE Letter of Aristeas argues that the laws have been given, to awake pious thoughts and to form the character. This view reappears in the work of the 19th century Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, the Torah prohibits seething the kid in its mothers milk. While the Bible does not provide a reason, it has suggested that the practice was perceived as cruel. These sparks of Holiness are released whenever a Jew manipulates any object for a reason, however. The Hasidic argument is that animals are imbued with signs that reveal the release of these sparks, in 1953, David Macht, an Orthodox Jew and proponent of the theory of biblical scientific foresight, conducted toxicity experiments on many kinds of animals and fish. At the same time, these explanations are controversial, scholar Lester L. Grabbe, writing in the Oxford Bible Commentary on Leviticus, says n explanation now almost universally rejected is that the laws in this section have hygiene as their basis. Although some of the laws of ritual purity roughly correspond to ideas of physical cleanliness. For example, there is no evidence that the animals are intrinsically bad to eat or to be avoided in a Mediterranean climate. The laws of kashrut can be classified according to the origin of the prohibition, biblically prohibited foods include, Non-kosher animals and birds, mammals require certain identifying characteristics, while birds require a tradition that they can be consumed. All invertebrates are non-kosher apart from certain types of locust, on which most communities lack a clear tradition, no reptiles or amphibians are kosher. Carrion, meat from an animal that has not been slaughtered according to the laws of shechita

11.
Veganism
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Veganism is both the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products, particularly in diet, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A follower of either the diet or the philosophy is known as a vegan, distinctions are sometimes made between several categories of veganism. Dietary vegans refrain from consuming animal products, not only meat but also eggs, dairy products and other animal-derived substances. The term ethical vegan is often applied to those who not only follow a diet but extend the philosophy into other areas of their lives. Donald Watson coined the term vegan in 1944 when he co-founded the Vegan Society in England, at first he used it to mean non-dairy vegetarian, but from 1951 the society defined it as the doctrine that man should live without exploiting animals. Interest in veganism increased in the 2010s, more vegan stores opened, and vegan options became increasingly available in supermarkets and restaurants in many countries. Well-planned vegan diets can reduce the risk of some types of chronic disease and they are regarded as appropriate for all stages of the life-cycle by the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The German Society for Nutrition cautions against vegan diets for children, because uncontaminated plant foods do not provide vitamin B12, researchers agree that vegans should eat B12-fortified foods or take a supplement. The origin of the English term vegetarian is unknown, the earliest known use is attributed to the actress Fanny Kemble, writing around 1839 in Georgia in the United States. The practice can be traced to Indus valley civilization in 3300 -1300 BCE Ancient India, the earliest known vegan was the Arab poet Al-Maʿarri. Vegetarianism established itself as a significant movement in 19th-century England and the United States, a minority of vegetarians avoided animal food entirely. Lambe called animal food an habitual irritation, and argued that ilk eating and flesh eating are but branches of a common system, and they must stand or fall together. Sylvester Grahams meatless Graham diet—mostly fruit, vegetables, water, several vegan communities were established around this time. In 1843 members of Alcott House created the British and Foreign Society for the Promotion of Humanity and Abstinence from Animal Food, led by Sophia Chichester, Alcott House also helped to establish the British Vegetarian Society, which held its first meeting in 1847 in Ramsgate, Kent. Belongs to the more moderate division. The first known vegan cookbook, Rupert H. Wheldons No Animal Food, the consumption of milk and eggs became a battleground over the following decades. There were regular discussions about it in the Vegetarian Messenger, it appears from the pages that many opponents of veganism came from within the vegetarian community. This lent support to the position, although Gandhi himself drank goats milk

12.
Western world
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The Western world or the West is a term usually referring to different nations, depending on the context, most often including at least part of Europe. There are many accepted definitions about what they all have in common, the Western world is also known as the Occident. The concept of the Western part of the earth has its roots in Greco-Roman civilization in Europe, before the Cold War era, the traditional Western viewpoint identified Western Civilization with the Western Christian countries and culture. Its political usage was changed by the antagonism during the Cold War in the mid-to-late 20th Century. The term originally had a literal geographic meaning, Western culture was influenced by many older great civilizations of the ancient Near East, such as Phoenicia, Minoan Crete, Sumer, Babylonia, and also Ancient Egypt. It originated in the Mediterranean basin and its vicinity, Greece, over time, their associated empires grew first to the east and west to include the rest of Mediterranean and Black Sea coastal areas, conquering and absorbing. Later, they expanded to the north of the Mediterranean Sea to include Western, Central, numerous times, this expansion was accompanied by Christian missionaries, who attempted to proselytize Christianity. There is debate among some as to whether Latin America is in a category of its own, specifically, Western culture may imply, a Biblical Christian cultural influence in spiritual thinking, customs and either ethic or moral traditions, around the Post-Classical Era and after. European cultural influences concerning artistic, musical, folkloric, ethic and oral traditions, the concept of Western culture is generally linked to the classical definition of the Western world. In this definition, Western culture is the set of literary, scientific, political, artistic, much of this set of traditions and knowledge is collected in the Western canon. The term has come to apply to countries whose history is marked by European immigration or settlement, such as the Americas, and Oceania. The geopolitical divisions in Europe that created a concept of East and West originated in the Roman Empire, Roman Catholic Western and Central Europe, as such, maintained a distinct identity particularly as it began to redevelop during the Renaissance. Even following the Protestant Reformation, Protestant Europe continued to see itself as more tied to Roman Catholic Europe than other parts of the civilized world. Use of the term West as a cultural and geopolitical term developed over the course of the Age of Exploration as Europe spread its culture to other parts of the world. Additionally, closer contacts between the West and Asia and other parts of the world in recent times have continued to cloud the use, herodotus considered the Persian Wars of the early 5th century BC a conflict of Europa versus Asia. The terms West and East were not used by any Greek author to describe that conflict, the Great Schism and the Fourth Crusade confirmed this deviation. The Renaissance in the West emerged partly from currents within the Roman Empire, Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a city-state founded on the Italian Peninsula about the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. In its 12-century existence, Roman civilization shifted from a monarchy, to a republic, nonetheless, despite its great legacy, a number of factors led to the eventual decline of the Roman Empire